Magazine

Two Allos Drugs Are Taking Aim At Cancer

December 10, 2006

Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) is the next biotech to watch. So argue some analysts, who expect Allos, which is developing anti-cancer drugs, to present "positive results" from two major products at a meeting in early December. Allos' lead compound, Efaproxyn, now in Phase III clinical trials, seeks to enhance radiation therapy for brain cancer. The other product, called PDX, is being tested in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Mark Monane of Needham, which has done banking for Allos, says what the biotech plans to reveal at the American Society of Hematology meeting "will fire up investor interest." He expects "encouraging" data on both drugs. Allos' stock has jumped from 3.80 on Nov. 3 to 5.74. Monane rates it a "strong buy," with a 12-month target of 9. He says a published study in the British Journal of Cancer on June 13 examined the effect of Efaproxyn in patients with brain cancer and found a "correlation between improved survival and response rate in those who received higher exposures [to the drug]." Rahul Jasuja of MDB Capital Group, who rates Allos a "buy," says these products provide "two shots at the goal."

Unless otherwise noted, neither the sources cited in Inside Wall Street nor their firms hold positions in the stocks under discussion. Similarly, they have no investment banking or other financial relationships with them. By Gene G. Marcial